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Isabel Dalhousie #8
The Forgotten Affairs of Youth
Nothing captures the charm of Edinburgh like the bestselling Isabel Dalhousie series of novels featuring the insatiably curious philosopher and woman detective. Whether investigating a case or a problem of philosophy, the indefatigable Isabel Dalhousie, one of fiction's most richly developed amateur detectives, is always ready to pursue the answers to all of life's questions, large and small.
In this latest installment of the beloved Isabel Dalhousie series, our inquisitive heroine helps a new friend discover the identity of her father.
Isabel and her fiance know who they are and where they come from. But not everybody is so fortunate. Jane Cooper, a visiting Australian philosopher on sabbatical in Edinburgh, has more questions than answers. Adopted at birth, Jane is trying to find her biological father, but all she knows about him is that he was a student in Edinburgh years ago. When she asks for Isabel's help in this seemingly impossible search . . . well, of course Isabel obliges.
But Isabel also manages to find time for her own concerns: her young son, Charlie, already walking and talking; her housekeeper, Grace, whose spiritualist has lately been doubling as a financial advisor; her niece Cat's latest relationship; and the pressing question of when and how Isabel and Jamie should finally get married.
Should the forgotten affairs of youth be left in the past, or can the memories help us understand the present? In her inimitable way, Isabel leads us to a new understanding of the meaning of family.
In this latest installment of the beloved Isabel Dalhousie series, our inquisitive heroine helps a new friend discover the identity of her father.
Isabel and her fiance know who they are and where they come from. But not everybody is so fortunate. Jane Cooper, a visiting Australian philosopher on sabbatical in Edinburgh, has more questions than answers. Adopted at birth, Jane is trying to find her biological father, but all she knows about him is that he was a student in Edinburgh years ago. When she asks for Isabel's help in this seemingly impossible search . . . well, of course Isabel obliges.
But Isabel also manages to find time for her own concerns: her young son, Charlie, already walking and talking; her housekeeper, Grace, whose spiritualist has lately been doubling as a financial advisor; her niece Cat's latest relationship; and the pressing question of when and how Isabel and Jamie should finally get married.
Should the forgotten affairs of youth be left in the past, or can the memories help us understand the present? In her inimitable way, Isabel leads us to a new understanding of the meaning of family.
261 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2011
About the author
Alexander McCall Smith
551 books12.3k followersAlexander McCall Smith is the author of the international phenomenon The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, the Isabel Dalhousie Series, the Portuguese Irregular Verbs series, and the 44 Scotland Street series. He is professor emeritus of medical law at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and has served on many national and international bodies concerned with bioethics. He was born in what is now known as Zimbabwe and he was a law professor at the University of Botswana. He lives in Scotland. Visit him online at www.alexandermccallsmith.com, on Facebook, and on Twitter.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 586 reviews
November 5, 2014
Isabel Dalhousie is sanctimonious bitch!
She is condescending to her housekeeper.
She slut shames her niece.
She is a snob about her so-called work which she never seems to do.
She thinks her 2 year old son is a food snob because he likes olives, sardines and gherkins.
She justifies her buttinksky behavior by thinking she has the power to make other people happy.
She ponders how lucky and happy she is and assumes those who were not blessed with a trust fund and good education lead lives of quiet desperation.
IMHO the real hero of this book is Isabel's niece Cat:
She is condescending to her housekeeper.
She slut shames her niece.
She is a snob about her so-called work which she never seems to do.
She thinks her 2 year old son is a food snob because he likes olives, sardines and gherkins.
She justifies her buttinksky behavior by thinking she has the power to make other people happy.
She ponders how lucky and happy she is and assumes those who were not blessed with a trust fund and good education lead lives of quiet desperation.
IMHO the real hero of this book is Isabel's niece Cat:
September 14, 2011
Am in the midst of this book! I read McCall Smith for pure pleasure. It is refreshing to pick up a book and know that you really don't have F=to pick it apart!
Finished it; loved it; calm except for Cat who was, once again, choosing incorrectly from mushrooms to men.
Finished it; loved it; calm except for Cat who was, once again, choosing incorrectly from mushrooms to men.
March 27, 2013
Alexander McCall Smith spent part of his childhood in Botswana. That's how he came to write the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. When it became a runaway success he was a law professor -- in Edinburgh, I think. He became a literary phenomenon, turning out free-standing books, books for children, and several other series, including the Isabel Dalhousie books. The latter were at first called the "Sunday Philosophy Club," an idea that never actually developed. He's also done a lecture season for Modern Scholar called Creating Humans: Ethical Questions Where Reproduction and Science Collide.
Once the floodgates had opened and his literary success was assured, he went on sabbatical from his law and academic career, the last I heard. It's a mystery to me how anybody can be so prolific, except that he must have tapped a rich vein of literary ore. I hope it doesn't play out!
Several of his series are cross-over mysteries in which, as in Seinfeld, a lot doesn't happen, except that it does, interiorly, and using the dramas of daily life as raw material. Alexander McCall Smith has his characters say (as Neal Boortz, the recently retired conservative talk-show host, used to say) what people really think but are afraid to say, except, unlike the talk-show host (who leaned toward the ungenerous and mean-spirited), these are more likely to be charitable thoughts. His protagonists are realists--not Pollyannaish. They look at themselves or people in general, but not merely at others. They take the broad view--and, yes, pun intended--he makes ladies his protagonists. Ladies, as in the feminine of gentlemen; class acts. Isabel Dalhousie, by definition, takes the philosophical view.
Somehow the author embeds these observations and speculations in his stories. He doesn't preach, he doesn't moralize. Does he do "stealth"--subliminal--philosophical and moral speculations? If so it's very good, therapeutic, balm to the soul. And not too heavy-duty, either--quick reads.
I'm going to see if I can include here a running example from the present book, one that appears, then recedes, only to resurface, over a number of pages....
In which Jan picks up on (what she thinks is) Alexander McCall Smith's riffing on civilization.
It starts when a manuscript Isabel is reviewing for her (fictional) journal, Review of Applied Ethics, suggests that violent entertainment is corrupting vulnerable individuals. The (fictional) writer of the submission opines that civilization involves moral effort, without which there can be no civilization. The manuscript comes with a comment from an intervening reviewer implying that the writer's view is unjustifiably "paternalistic." Thereupon, Isabel reflects that people nowadays seem embarrassed by the very idea of civilization, which has "perhaps been too frequently accompanied by guns pointed at those on whom it was being imposed." She then wonders whether there has ever been a significant civilization that did not rely on force, at least initially. Civilization requires organization and cooperation, she continues, which could not exist without authority, and, ultimately, force. She looks out the window at the garden, seeing it as an allegory of the imposition of order through force, with paths to be laid and weeds to be rooted out....
Fifteen pages further down the line, Isabel finds herself meeting a woman with a Northern Irish accent who's been living in Scotland for years but was previously "an Ulster Protestant--that much maligned category. My people went over from Scotland in the seventeenth century. The plantations." Isabel says something of a reassuring nature, to which the lady replies, "Maybe. But we were still settlers, weren't we?" Isabelle points out it works both ways; the Irish settled in Glasgow in the nineteenth century, as well as in London, such that everybody is all mixed up now. The lady accepts that; says she just wants to continue making peace.
The dialogue goes on: The sides have much in common--except that they don't have a flag in common. Isabel allows as how that wouldn't matter much to her. That comment results in a slight flare-up from the lady:
Twenty-four pages later, the subject of civilization again surfaces. Isabel is in a casual conversation in which she fears she's been mildly annoying:
Finally, after twenty-two more pages, in a pensive conversation with her fiancé, Isabel says that we all have to conduct ourselves as though everything is going to be all right and the familiar things that surround us will still be there hundreds of years later--even though there likely won't still even be a country called Scotland in five hundred years. When the fiancé is reluctant to accept that, she reminds him how, a few decades ago, no one foresaw that the Soviet Union was going to cease to exist before the old century did.
My starting point for this improvisation on civilization was p.148; the last reference was p. 211. But it may have started earlier; if so, I just happened to pick up on it on p. 148--if it's really there, that is.
That's just a sample of what Alexander McCall Smith does. He has a bee in his bonnet about some issue that he lets his characters play with in among the book's events, and does anybody else but me notice?
Thus ends this exposé--and this review.
Once the floodgates had opened and his literary success was assured, he went on sabbatical from his law and academic career, the last I heard. It's a mystery to me how anybody can be so prolific, except that he must have tapped a rich vein of literary ore. I hope it doesn't play out!
Several of his series are cross-over mysteries in which, as in Seinfeld, a lot doesn't happen, except that it does, interiorly, and using the dramas of daily life as raw material. Alexander McCall Smith has his characters say (as Neal Boortz, the recently retired conservative talk-show host, used to say) what people really think but are afraid to say, except, unlike the talk-show host (who leaned toward the ungenerous and mean-spirited), these are more likely to be charitable thoughts. His protagonists are realists--not Pollyannaish. They look at themselves or people in general, but not merely at others. They take the broad view--and, yes, pun intended--he makes ladies his protagonists. Ladies, as in the feminine of gentlemen; class acts. Isabel Dalhousie, by definition, takes the philosophical view.
Somehow the author embeds these observations and speculations in his stories. He doesn't preach, he doesn't moralize. Does he do "stealth"--subliminal--philosophical and moral speculations? If so it's very good, therapeutic, balm to the soul. And not too heavy-duty, either--quick reads.
I'm going to see if I can include here a running example from the present book, one that appears, then recedes, only to resurface, over a number of pages....
In which Jan picks up on (what she thinks is) Alexander McCall Smith's riffing on civilization.
It starts when a manuscript Isabel is reviewing for her (fictional) journal, Review of Applied Ethics, suggests that violent entertainment is corrupting vulnerable individuals. The (fictional) writer of the submission opines that civilization involves moral effort, without which there can be no civilization. The manuscript comes with a comment from an intervening reviewer implying that the writer's view is unjustifiably "paternalistic." Thereupon, Isabel reflects that people nowadays seem embarrassed by the very idea of civilization, which has "perhaps been too frequently accompanied by guns pointed at those on whom it was being imposed." She then wonders whether there has ever been a significant civilization that did not rely on force, at least initially. Civilization requires organization and cooperation, she continues, which could not exist without authority, and, ultimately, force. She looks out the window at the garden, seeing it as an allegory of the imposition of order through force, with paths to be laid and weeds to be rooted out....
Exactly. Force. Somebody, somewhere, has to believe in something sufficiently to force it upon others. If that belief was in justice and human flourishing, then, well and good: that produced civilization. Or well and good--but only to an extent. Civilizations expanded by suppressing other, weaker societies. There were plenty of ruined temples and cities that, if one looked for them, reminded us of Darwinian rules in this respect. One person's vision of the good lost out when a more confident vision of another good came along.
Fifteen pages further down the line, Isabel finds herself meeting a woman with a Northern Irish accent who's been living in Scotland for years but was previously "an Ulster Protestant--that much maligned category. My people went over from Scotland in the seventeenth century. The plantations." Isabel says something of a reassuring nature, to which the lady replies, "Maybe. But we were still settlers, weren't we?" Isabelle points out it works both ways; the Irish settled in Glasgow in the nineteenth century, as well as in London, such that everybody is all mixed up now. The lady accepts that; says she just wants to continue making peace.
The dialogue goes on: The sides have much in common--except that they don't have a flag in common. Isabel allows as how that wouldn't matter much to her. That comment results in a slight flare-up from the lady:
It doesn't matter to you because you're under the right flag--the one you want to be under. It's not quite the same if you find yourself under the wrong flag. Then it matters a lot.
Twenty-four pages later, the subject of civilization again surfaces. Isabel is in a casual conversation in which she fears she's been mildly annoying:
"...We all, I suppose have the capacity to annoy one another." She paused. "And civilization, I suppose, is the structure that helps us to minimize the annoyance."
This seemed to amuse Max. "I suppose we're all in favor of civilization, just as we're in favor of motherhood and apple pie."
Finally, after twenty-two more pages, in a pensive conversation with her fiancé, Isabel says that we all have to conduct ourselves as though everything is going to be all right and the familiar things that surround us will still be there hundreds of years later--even though there likely won't still even be a country called Scotland in five hundred years. When the fiancé is reluctant to accept that, she reminds him how, a few decades ago, no one foresaw that the Soviet Union was going to cease to exist before the old century did.
My starting point for this improvisation on civilization was p.148; the last reference was p. 211. But it may have started earlier; if so, I just happened to pick up on it on p. 148--if it's really there, that is.
That's just a sample of what Alexander McCall Smith does. He has a bee in his bonnet about some issue that he lets his characters play with in among the book's events, and does anybody else but me notice?
Thus ends this exposé--and this review.
October 13, 2023
My first foray into Smith’s Isabel Dalhousie series, having been a fan of his Number One Ladies Detective Agency (Precious Ramotswe) series for quite a while. I found the Dalhousie series very slow and dull, unfortunately.
July 16, 2018
3.5 stars. Something really terrific takes place at the end of this novel and I don't want to say more than that. I've been really enjoying this series because the main character edits a philosophical journal and the questions we ponder are those that come up in everyday life.
I can always count on Alexander McCall Smith to provide a nice distraction from the surreal world I and other Americans are inhabiting at the moment. Davina Porter narrates the entire series (at least through this one) and does an incredible job.
I've been listening to audiobooks while writing postcards to voters. I joined Postcards to Voters as a therapeutic exercise to deal with the fear and frustration, anger and sadness I've been experiencing for the past year and a half or so. Even Fox commentators now admit that our president seems to defend Russia and not the US. Check out today's press conference on YouTube and see why.
Anywho I encourage you to join http://www.postcardstovoters.org to help flip the Congress blue so we can take care of this problem and mitigate further damage to our democracy. It is very therapeutic and lots of fun! I wrote 35 cards yesterday alone and it feels great. I highly recommend it. We have to become active and stay woke!
I can always count on Alexander McCall Smith to provide a nice distraction from the surreal world I and other Americans are inhabiting at the moment. Davina Porter narrates the entire series (at least through this one) and does an incredible job.
I've been listening to audiobooks while writing postcards to voters. I joined Postcards to Voters as a therapeutic exercise to deal with the fear and frustration, anger and sadness I've been experiencing for the past year and a half or so. Even Fox commentators now admit that our president seems to defend Russia and not the US. Check out today's press conference on YouTube and see why.
Anywho I encourage you to join http://www.postcardstovoters.org to help flip the Congress blue so we can take care of this problem and mitigate further damage to our democracy. It is very therapeutic and lots of fun! I wrote 35 cards yesterday alone and it feels great. I highly recommend it. We have to become active and stay woke!
February 27, 2012
Reading one of the Isabel Dalhousie books is like visiting an old and dear friend. Just for a few days, I am taken away to Edinburgh and enjoying walks around town, visits to the deli owned by Isabel's niece, Cat, and sipping cups of tea in the warm, toasty kitchen. Each book is time to catch up. Isabel is an extremely likable character; she is smart, thoughtful, and has a rather exacting moral compass; she is full of common sense and filled with love for her family and country. Even though this is the eighth book in the series, I never seem to tire of her "meddling" in the affairs of others, her love/hate relationship with her housekeeper, Grace, or news of Cat's new boyfriend. In this book Isabel does help a fellow philosopher find a missing family member, learn a secret about a nemesis, while suffering mushroom poisoning and learning that the fox in her garden has a cub. Her love story with Jamie also advances. A very satisfying read.
July 30, 2012
The Forgotten Affairs of Youth is the 8th of the Isabel Dalhousie series by Alexander McCall Smith. As always, Isabel’s life is full: she has articles to read for the Review of Applied Ethics, an instance of nepotism by Professor Lettuce to deal with, decisions to make about rising journal production costs, and 2½ year-old Charlie has started swearing. Learning of her niece, Cat’s latest liaison and wondering how many boyfriends is too many, Isabel mulls over her own forgotten affairs of youth: this segues neatly into the main plot, tracking down the long-lost parents of visiting Australian philosopher and adoptee, Jane Cooper. This time, however, Isabel’s “intermeddling” is, surprisingly, encouraged by Jamie, even though he wants her to realise she is not always right. Ultimately, she recognises she has once again done the right thing for the wrong reason. Along the way, we are treated to Isabel’s philosophical musings on many diverse subjects: being polite, or saying what you really feel; landscape painters taking artistic licence; the purpose of art; adoption; head lice; which bodily afflictions are too personal to talk about; sarcasm; swearing; wind turbines; jumping to conclusions; religion; children’s literature; dogs dreaming; metaphors; how to end arguments and knowing who you are. Cat is her usual superficial, difficult self; Isabel finds herself in the Emergency Department at the hospital; some humorous crossword clues are conceived; Isabel learns more about Professor Lettuce from his nephew, Max; and, finally, a long-awaited event occurs. My favourite quote is “It’s very therapeutic for men to iron. Therapeutic for women, that is.” Plenty of gentle philosophy and bon mots like “people seek your advice only to confirm they are doing the right thing”. The dialogue between Isabel and Jamie and between Isabel and Grace is a wonderful source of humour: I almost had a coffee accident reading about Max Lettuce. I wonder, each time I start reading another McCall Smith book, if he can keep up the incredibly high standard he has set: so far he has not disappointed me.
February 15, 2012
This is the second book in the Isabel series I've read -- I can't remember any details from the first one, which is telling. I'm not sure why I read to the end of this book, since I ultimately found it to be very boring, but I'm glad I did, because it got better toward the end. My biggest complaint about this book is that I found Isabel to be incredibly irritating, self-righteous, and self-absorbed. I also didn't really believe in her -- her musings, particularly about sex and romance, have the feeling of a female character created by a man. The plot, while very dull through most of the book, became a little more interesting toward the end, but I was also annoyed by Jane's comment about her adoptive parents "pretending" to be her parents. While in general the messages in this book about adoption were OK, this one line detracted from their overall impact.
January 25, 2012
This is the 8th book in the Isabel Dalhousie series. It is my least favorite. I was disappointed in the wandering of thoughts in Isabel's mind. Though she is a philosopher I felt the thoughts went too far afield for the scenes. It happened too many times and I got the feeling that the author was simply trying to fill the space. I really got bored with the musings.
There was too little interaction between Isabel and Jamie, and though they married at the end of the book and the wedding pages evoked some feelings, it was too little too late. Perhaps Mr. McCall-Smith has come to the end with this series.
There was too little interaction between Isabel and Jamie, and though they married at the end of the book and the wedding pages evoked some feelings, it was too little too late. Perhaps Mr. McCall-Smith has come to the end with this series.
December 8, 2011
I love Isabel Dalhousie, loyal citizen of Edinburgh, philospher, owner and editor of the Review of Applied Ethics. I admire her philosophy summed up in this quote: "...she would never accept things as they were. That was what made her do what she did--practice philosophy--and what made her, and everyone else who thought about the world and its unkindnesses, do battle for understanding, for sympathy, for love; in small ways, perhaps, but ways that cumulatively made a difference."
Isabel can turn the simplest conversation into something meaningful and even profound. And yet she's not immune to jealousy and resentment which she struggles to understand (and makes me like her even more).
For me these books wouldn't even need a plot. Just spending time with Isabel, her fiance, Jamie, their son, Charlie, and housekeeper, Grace would be enough. In this one the story revolves around an Australian philosopher named Jane who was adopted as a baby and is now searching for information about her birth parents. Which of course brings to light "forgotten affairs of youth".
Isabel can turn the simplest conversation into something meaningful and even profound. And yet she's not immune to jealousy and resentment which she struggles to understand (and makes me like her even more).
For me these books wouldn't even need a plot. Just spending time with Isabel, her fiance, Jamie, their son, Charlie, and housekeeper, Grace would be enough. In this one the story revolves around an Australian philosopher named Jane who was adopted as a baby and is now searching for information about her birth parents. Which of course brings to light "forgotten affairs of youth".
October 21, 2014
Apparently I'm re-reading this book now, but since I don't remember reading it the first time and i didn't review it, here are some 2014 thoughts:
Casual racism within the first few pages. Repeated once or twice elsewhere in the book.
Tedious and not-interesting philosophizing.
One long yawn re: relationship between Isabel and Jaime.
Unrealistic depiction of a two-year-old, who is remarkably absent from his parents' lives/the book.
Caricatures of lesser, potentially more interesting characters.
Unrealistic dialogue that sounds pompous and didactic.
It sends me to sleep, though? Which is what I'm looking for in a book.
Casual racism within the first few pages. Repeated once or twice elsewhere in the book.
Tedious and not-interesting philosophizing.
One long yawn re: relationship between Isabel and Jaime.
Unrealistic depiction of a two-year-old, who is remarkably absent from his parents' lives/the book.
Caricatures of lesser, potentially more interesting characters.
Unrealistic dialogue that sounds pompous and didactic.
It sends me to sleep, though? Which is what I'm looking for in a book.
January 31, 2012
This is the eighth book in the Isabel Dalhousie series and the first book I have read by Alexander McCall Smith. I loved this cozy mystery. This book was able to stand alone for a good read. I loved the protagonist, the inquisitive Philosopher by trade and heart. Her mind is constantly moving with flotsam and jetsom and one never knows when and where her mind will lead her at any given moment. I was reminded of a large party I attended, many years ago, in which half the attendees were local government and newspaper employees and the other half were from the local University's Philosophy Department. The conversations that occurred between the two groups when thoroughly mixed were fascinating and totally unexpected.
This book was fascinating and totally unexpected, the key to which is Isabel Dalhousie.
The Author, if not a philosopher himself, knows the mind of a philosopher. The characters and setting in Scotland keep the reader involved. This was a quick read and will be enjoyed by any reader, and particularly the cozy mystery lover.
This book was fascinating and totally unexpected, the key to which is Isabel Dalhousie.
The Author, if not a philosopher himself, knows the mind of a philosopher. The characters and setting in Scotland keep the reader involved. This was a quick read and will be enjoyed by any reader, and particularly the cozy mystery lover.
March 25, 2014
Three or four books after I’d decided I’d had enough of Alexander McCall Smith’s Isabelle Dalousie series (and read them anyway), The Forgotten Affairs of Youth came out. What a surprise to find that, except maybe for the first volume, it is the best of the lot. Let me go back for a minute.
The first of the Isabelle Dalhousie series was entitled The Sunday Philosophy Club. In it, McCall Smith set up the idea that Isabelle would have kind of an ongoing reading club with others who enjoyed philosophy as she did. As I happened to be working on something similar at the time, I wondered how well he could accomplish this and in what ways he would use the tenets of philosophy to enhance series.
To my dismay, Isabelle’s Sunday philosophy club is never mentioned again, even though the cover of the second volume, Friends, Lovers, Chocolate, states “Sunday Philosophy Club” across the book jacket (at least for the U.S. Edition) and on the list of McCall Smith’s publications as well. This was a great disappointment to me, although I kept reading the series in hopes of its resurrection. It didn't happen. After the second volume, the caption across the front of the jacket read, “An Isabelle Dalhousie novel.”
The way McCall Smith works is this. He imagines a simple request, like someone asking Isabelle to help her find her birth parents, and weaves it in and out of lsabelle’s private life. Unluckily for the reader, this private life consists, in the majority, of her affair with her niece’s ex-boyfriend, her subsequent pregnancy, and her impending marriage. Her boyfriend is younger than she is—as we are reminded with aggravating regularity—and a classical musician. As boyfriends go, he is probably better than most. In fact, he is kind of the robotic ideal of a boyfriend. And, like a robot, he is boring in the extreme. And when their son Charlie is born, the reader is treated to the oohs and ahhs that are standard exclamations of people without lives. He is perfect, he will be a doctor, a lawyer, etc. When Charlie is present, he is gaggingly so.
What saves the books from getting thrown across the room is Isabelle herself. She is actually someone who sits down and thinks about things deeply. Her investigations into the single small puzzles she is presented with in each book are interesting in themselves, even though she is sometimes wrong in her initial findings. Another plus is that McCall Smith does not think it necessary that mysteries should include having Isabelle search for murderers or rapists or other undesirables so prevalent in the genre.
A less ingratiating ploy McCall Smith uses is to bring back characters from previous books. All writers with series books have to do this, but McCall Smith does this mostly to pad his word count. That is one of the things wrong with series books. You can get away with it for two or three books, but not more. Examples. Isabelle’s niece, Cat, runs a delicatessen near Isabelle’s house. The two have a “difficult” relationship, especially because of Cat’s dreadful choice of boyfriends (except perfect Jamie, of course, who Cat dumped). There is also the moronic Eddie, Cat’s only assistant in the deli, whose dark pain is always hinted at but never actually explained. The truth is, any deli that employed Eddie as anything other than a dishwasher would be out of business forthwith. Having recurring characters is fine as long as we don't have to be bombarded with the same old cliches about them ad infinitum.
So what’s different about The Forgotten Affairs of Youth? Again, it is Isabelle herself. Eddie still has his dark secret, Kat still is angry at Isabelle (and even hints that Jamie has his own dark secret), Professor Lettuce is still trying to undermine Isabelle’s authority on the magazine that she edits (and owns), The Review of Applied Ethics, and Jamie and Charlie are still perfect. But in this one, the woman who asks Isabelle for help is a philosopher from Australia. Adopted as an infant, she is looking for her birth parents, and she and Isabelle have a few enlightening conversations. But the conversations Isabelle has within her own mind are even better. Almost everything she sees has its place in her thinking universe. She cogitates about it, makes comparisons, and draws conclusions. Anything from the moral obligation of telling the truth at all times to whether or not a “good dog” can be called moral if his “goodness” is only a result of instinct or training. Almost every object or idea that Isabelle comes across in this novel is picked apart in this fascinating way.
I feel somewhat the same about this book as I felt about Vonnegut’s Bluebeard—a masterpiece that came out on the heels of about half a dozen clinkers.
What I’m hoping is that Eddie’s dark secret is that he had an affair with Jamie in the past and that the two of them will run away together. And take Charlie. Isabelle would call this uncharitable, but so be it.
NOTE: I experienced this book through the reading talents of Mitzi Friedlander, who has recorded over 1,300 books for the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. As is true of most of the readers I have listened to, she is a true professional. She even puts on a Scottish accent for McCall Smith's Scots characters and a kind of Australian and Irish accent for others. The only off-putting thing about the reading is Friedlander’s penchant for reading the book in a more dramatic way, perhaps, than McCall Smith intended for it to be read. When Isabelle speaks, it hard not to picture Maggie Smith portraying Professor McGonagill scolding someone in the Harry Potter movies. It is a voice more for the stage and screen than for the reading of this particular novel. I see the characters as more demure and even-toned. Still, I enjoyed the book more than the previous ones I read as physical books. Could her voice be the difference? Just maybe.
So give this one a solid 4. Do the same with the first in the series. But numbers 4, 5, 6, and 7 are duds. Give them a 2.
The first of the Isabelle Dalhousie series was entitled The Sunday Philosophy Club. In it, McCall Smith set up the idea that Isabelle would have kind of an ongoing reading club with others who enjoyed philosophy as she did. As I happened to be working on something similar at the time, I wondered how well he could accomplish this and in what ways he would use the tenets of philosophy to enhance series.
To my dismay, Isabelle’s Sunday philosophy club is never mentioned again, even though the cover of the second volume, Friends, Lovers, Chocolate, states “Sunday Philosophy Club” across the book jacket (at least for the U.S. Edition) and on the list of McCall Smith’s publications as well. This was a great disappointment to me, although I kept reading the series in hopes of its resurrection. It didn't happen. After the second volume, the caption across the front of the jacket read, “An Isabelle Dalhousie novel.”
The way McCall Smith works is this. He imagines a simple request, like someone asking Isabelle to help her find her birth parents, and weaves it in and out of lsabelle’s private life. Unluckily for the reader, this private life consists, in the majority, of her affair with her niece’s ex-boyfriend, her subsequent pregnancy, and her impending marriage. Her boyfriend is younger than she is—as we are reminded with aggravating regularity—and a classical musician. As boyfriends go, he is probably better than most. In fact, he is kind of the robotic ideal of a boyfriend. And, like a robot, he is boring in the extreme. And when their son Charlie is born, the reader is treated to the oohs and ahhs that are standard exclamations of people without lives. He is perfect, he will be a doctor, a lawyer, etc. When Charlie is present, he is gaggingly so.
What saves the books from getting thrown across the room is Isabelle herself. She is actually someone who sits down and thinks about things deeply. Her investigations into the single small puzzles she is presented with in each book are interesting in themselves, even though she is sometimes wrong in her initial findings. Another plus is that McCall Smith does not think it necessary that mysteries should include having Isabelle search for murderers or rapists or other undesirables so prevalent in the genre.
A less ingratiating ploy McCall Smith uses is to bring back characters from previous books. All writers with series books have to do this, but McCall Smith does this mostly to pad his word count. That is one of the things wrong with series books. You can get away with it for two or three books, but not more. Examples. Isabelle’s niece, Cat, runs a delicatessen near Isabelle’s house. The two have a “difficult” relationship, especially because of Cat’s dreadful choice of boyfriends (except perfect Jamie, of course, who Cat dumped). There is also the moronic Eddie, Cat’s only assistant in the deli, whose dark pain is always hinted at but never actually explained. The truth is, any deli that employed Eddie as anything other than a dishwasher would be out of business forthwith. Having recurring characters is fine as long as we don't have to be bombarded with the same old cliches about them ad infinitum.
So what’s different about The Forgotten Affairs of Youth? Again, it is Isabelle herself. Eddie still has his dark secret, Kat still is angry at Isabelle (and even hints that Jamie has his own dark secret), Professor Lettuce is still trying to undermine Isabelle’s authority on the magazine that she edits (and owns), The Review of Applied Ethics, and Jamie and Charlie are still perfect. But in this one, the woman who asks Isabelle for help is a philosopher from Australia. Adopted as an infant, she is looking for her birth parents, and she and Isabelle have a few enlightening conversations. But the conversations Isabelle has within her own mind are even better. Almost everything she sees has its place in her thinking universe. She cogitates about it, makes comparisons, and draws conclusions. Anything from the moral obligation of telling the truth at all times to whether or not a “good dog” can be called moral if his “goodness” is only a result of instinct or training. Almost every object or idea that Isabelle comes across in this novel is picked apart in this fascinating way.
I feel somewhat the same about this book as I felt about Vonnegut’s Bluebeard—a masterpiece that came out on the heels of about half a dozen clinkers.
What I’m hoping is that Eddie’s dark secret is that he had an affair with Jamie in the past and that the two of them will run away together. And take Charlie. Isabelle would call this uncharitable, but so be it.
NOTE: I experienced this book through the reading talents of Mitzi Friedlander, who has recorded over 1,300 books for the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. As is true of most of the readers I have listened to, she is a true professional. She even puts on a Scottish accent for McCall Smith's Scots characters and a kind of Australian and Irish accent for others. The only off-putting thing about the reading is Friedlander’s penchant for reading the book in a more dramatic way, perhaps, than McCall Smith intended for it to be read. When Isabelle speaks, it hard not to picture Maggie Smith portraying Professor McGonagill scolding someone in the Harry Potter movies. It is a voice more for the stage and screen than for the reading of this particular novel. I see the characters as more demure and even-toned. Still, I enjoyed the book more than the previous ones I read as physical books. Could her voice be the difference? Just maybe.
So give this one a solid 4. Do the same with the first in the series. But numbers 4, 5, 6, and 7 are duds. Give them a 2.
November 20, 2012
The Forgotten Affairs of Youth by Alexander McCall Smith
This review is the second of three reviews of books that seem to me go together. Part A is Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder and Part C is Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith by Anne Lamott. And they are connected in my mind by their interesting, enlightening and unique explorations of the fundamental questions at the center of life. They each show how their children motivate people to confront previously unexplored concepts of morality and ethics.
This novel is about a Scottish philosopher who edits and publishes the Journal of Applied Ethics, a respected, academic periodical. Dr. Isabel Dalhousie is also an unwed mother of a two-year old and a fiancé. The relationships and occurrences of her daily life are told with the central and binding plot being her aid in the search for the birth parents of a fellow academic philosopher, Jane.
The introductory conversation between these two characters presents the philosophical motivation of the book. It appears that both characters are searching for purpose and direction in their lives.
And Jane states:
“We have to decide who we are, what we represent and then defend it…because if we don’t then all is lost…Self interest, naked materialism, authoritarian government. All of these are alive and kicking in the undergrowth, ready to take over. Ready to fill the vacuum created by the decline of Christianity… That had been at the heart of our culture. It had given our society its fundamental outlook…”
“…I sometimes envy those who have a strong faith…”
Isabel states, “So you’re like most of us today… but I have misgivings about people not having a spiritual life. It’s so shallow…”
What is Isabel’s spiritual life? Is “applied ethics” all that is required to be spiritual? Surely the editor/publisher of Applied Ethics can’t be shallow!
The final chapters of the book in a way answer these questions for Isabel and for us. Her decision about her domestic arrangements doesn't appear to be consistent with her previous rejection of traditional religion. The general confusion of ideas is summed up by this bystander’s remark, “I can’t believe in God but I believe in his love.” Curious.
This review is the second of three reviews of books that seem to me go together. Part A is Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder and Part C is Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith by Anne Lamott. And they are connected in my mind by their interesting, enlightening and unique explorations of the fundamental questions at the center of life. They each show how their children motivate people to confront previously unexplored concepts of morality and ethics.
This novel is about a Scottish philosopher who edits and publishes the Journal of Applied Ethics, a respected, academic periodical. Dr. Isabel Dalhousie is also an unwed mother of a two-year old and a fiancé. The relationships and occurrences of her daily life are told with the central and binding plot being her aid in the search for the birth parents of a fellow academic philosopher, Jane.
The introductory conversation between these two characters presents the philosophical motivation of the book. It appears that both characters are searching for purpose and direction in their lives.
And Jane states:
“We have to decide who we are, what we represent and then defend it…because if we don’t then all is lost…Self interest, naked materialism, authoritarian government. All of these are alive and kicking in the undergrowth, ready to take over. Ready to fill the vacuum created by the decline of Christianity… That had been at the heart of our culture. It had given our society its fundamental outlook…”
“…I sometimes envy those who have a strong faith…”
Isabel states, “So you’re like most of us today… but I have misgivings about people not having a spiritual life. It’s so shallow…”
What is Isabel’s spiritual life? Is “applied ethics” all that is required to be spiritual? Surely the editor/publisher of Applied Ethics can’t be shallow!
The final chapters of the book in a way answer these questions for Isabel and for us. Her decision about her domestic arrangements doesn't appear to be consistent with her previous rejection of traditional religion. The general confusion of ideas is summed up by this bystander’s remark, “I can’t believe in God but I believe in his love.” Curious.
May 19, 2012
The Forgotten Affairs of Youth is a refreshing story told from a unique perspective. The main character, Isabel, a philosopher, shares her complex and sometimes rambling thoughts as she progresses through the daily challenges of life. She is so real and so human that sometimes it felt as if parts of the book were lifted from my own thoughts and experiences.
Isabel confronts common situations with tact and integrity such as dealing with her child learning foul words from another child, maintaining a relationship with a prickly relative, handling conflict with a coworker, etc. Her thoughts center around being consistently moral by telling the truth, listening to others, not prejudging others, and holding herself accountable.
Amongst the philosophical musings and life challenges are sprinkled moments of endearing humanity. I particularly liked Isabel's whispered conversations with her neighborhood fox that she dubbed, Brother Fox. She considers Brother Fox a proper fox because he is shy and does no flaunt himself. She contrasts him to the nouveau riche fox from a friend's flashy neighborhood where the fox is redder and more dashing than other foxes and walks the streets in broad daylight.
The book is ultimately about a respect for the truth including learning when exposing the whole truth will be more damaging than maintaining the status quo.
Isabel confronts common situations with tact and integrity such as dealing with her child learning foul words from another child, maintaining a relationship with a prickly relative, handling conflict with a coworker, etc. Her thoughts center around being consistently moral by telling the truth, listening to others, not prejudging others, and holding herself accountable.
Amongst the philosophical musings and life challenges are sprinkled moments of endearing humanity. I particularly liked Isabel's whispered conversations with her neighborhood fox that she dubbed, Brother Fox. She considers Brother Fox a proper fox because he is shy and does no flaunt himself. She contrasts him to the nouveau riche fox from a friend's flashy neighborhood where the fox is redder and more dashing than other foxes and walks the streets in broad daylight.
The book is ultimately about a respect for the truth including learning when exposing the whole truth will be more damaging than maintaining the status quo.
December 14, 2011
Reading these books reminds me of talking to my son, Dan, another philosopher. You start talking to him about one thing and then he kind of gets this blank stare as his mind goes on down many tangents until you are back to talking about "justice" or "ethics" again. I understand how Isabel's friends feel.
I enjoy these books; though they are gentle reads, they are not always easy reads. And Isabel is, as often before, caught several times in having to live up to her ethical high standards or find some way to justify not doing so.
I enjoy these books; though they are gentle reads, they are not always easy reads. And Isabel is, as often before, caught several times in having to live up to her ethical high standards or find some way to justify not doing so.
March 22, 2012
This series has always walked a narrow path between cozy and boring, and this one takes an occasional step off in the direction of boring. It’s three parts philosophical musing to one part plot.
I still like the characters and the setting, and I still get a little thrill from the calm, reflective joie de vivre in Smith’s books. Isabel has an enviable life, which she knows and deeply appreciates.
Concerning the relationship between Isabel and Jamie:
I still like the characters and the setting, and I still get a little thrill from the calm, reflective joie de vivre in Smith’s books. Isabel has an enviable life, which she knows and deeply appreciates.
Concerning the relationship between Isabel and Jamie:
December 1, 2019
Mrs. Dalhousie lives a whole lot of her life in her own head chasing random thoughts darting around like hummingbirds. She always seems to come back to the correct starting point, but she does have a lot of anxiety about morality and right/wrongness of people's actions.
I laughed a lot.
I reread this over Thanksgiving 2019 and while it’s the same story, my reaction is quite different. I didn’t laugh as much.
I laughed a lot.
I reread this over Thanksgiving 2019 and while it’s the same story, my reaction is quite different. I didn’t laugh as much.
September 7, 2011
Big sigh of relief that this was back up to AMS' usual standard.
Read & reviewed for The Bookbag.
http://www.thebookbag.co.uk/reviews/i...
Read & reviewed for The Bookbag.
http://www.thebookbag.co.uk/reviews/i...
September 22, 2011
I love Isabel Dalhousie but it has been a while since I have read A Sunday Philosophy Club novel and I found this book a little more drawn out than McCall Smith's earlier books in the series. I did enjoy the read but didn't find it as humorous and the pace was a little slow.
August 21, 2016
While this is not my favourite McCall-Smith series, I found this book started off well. I enjoy Isabel Dalhousie's philosophical comments and the humour they bring to situations. Unfortunately the book ran out of steam from the middle to the end and left the reader with a flat feeling.
April 13, 2023
Isabel is as prudish, sanctimonious and infuriating a character as ever; it’s like McCall Smith doesn’t understand the impact of her personality on the reader. He wants to portray her as a goodie two shoes who would never hurt a fly, but in actual fact she is constantly looking down on people different from her (Cat, even Grace) and is as obsessed with the good looks of her ex husband and current boyfriend as Cat is of her train of BFs.
Nonetheless, as ever, I marvel at McCall Smith’s adept handling of philosophical musings, the distillation of dozens of everyday mental reveries through the lens of philosophy, art and poetry, and, of course, the cozy beauty of Edinburgh and Scottish life.
Will give myself a break, but I know I’ll return to Isabel Dalhousie soon. There’s a love-hate relationship here I clearly cannot resist.
Nonetheless, as ever, I marvel at McCall Smith’s adept handling of philosophical musings, the distillation of dozens of everyday mental reveries through the lens of philosophy, art and poetry, and, of course, the cozy beauty of Edinburgh and Scottish life.
Will give myself a break, but I know I’ll return to Isabel Dalhousie soon. There’s a love-hate relationship here I clearly cannot resist.
November 10, 2012
I like Alexander McCall Smith. I haven't been able to get into all of his series but I like this one and the Number One Ladies.
However, after maybe 4 or 5 Isabel Dalhousie's maybe it's over?
The conceit of the series is that Isabel is a professional philosopher. She therefore thinks that her way of experiencing the world is more complicated than it is for non-philosophers. From the purchase of cheese to the revelation of a secret to returning a phone call, every choice is fraught with various moral and philosophical implications.
In the beginning I found Isabel charming. Now she is becoming grating.
I can't tell if McCall Smith is trying to cloak Isabel's struggle for real self-reflection in her endless fretting about everything she does and in every way that she interacts with others. Either way, I am getting a little tired of Isabel justifying her judgements of others with this notion of "moral proximity."
And although Isabel frequently expresses shame or doubt about her financially secure position in the world, she is ultimately someone who seems unaware of her own privilege. Little comments in this entry into the series really highlight that for me (like her conclusion that wealthy people should only be taxed so much or else they will leave municipalities that "over tax." This from someone who will clearly never leave her beloved Edinborough which is itself a character in the book).
In the beginning of the series, Isabel was a well-intentioned busybody who got in over her head and was chastened by the consequences. And at the end of the book, one could safely conclude that she had grown and changed as a person. These critical elements--growth and change--were missing from this novel.
However, after maybe 4 or 5 Isabel Dalhousie's maybe it's over?
The conceit of the series is that Isabel is a professional philosopher. She therefore thinks that her way of experiencing the world is more complicated than it is for non-philosophers. From the purchase of cheese to the revelation of a secret to returning a phone call, every choice is fraught with various moral and philosophical implications.
In the beginning I found Isabel charming. Now she is becoming grating.
I can't tell if McCall Smith is trying to cloak Isabel's struggle for real self-reflection in her endless fretting about everything she does and in every way that she interacts with others. Either way, I am getting a little tired of Isabel justifying her judgements of others with this notion of "moral proximity."
And although Isabel frequently expresses shame or doubt about her financially secure position in the world, she is ultimately someone who seems unaware of her own privilege. Little comments in this entry into the series really highlight that for me (like her conclusion that wealthy people should only be taxed so much or else they will leave municipalities that "over tax." This from someone who will clearly never leave her beloved Edinborough which is itself a character in the book).
In the beginning of the series, Isabel was a well-intentioned busybody who got in over her head and was chastened by the consequences. And at the end of the book, one could safely conclude that she had grown and changed as a person. These critical elements--growth and change--were missing from this novel.
August 3, 2017
There is not much convincing to be done with a review of the 8th book in a series. Alexander McCall Smith is my literary palate cleanser -- and boy did I need one after a doozy of a previous read -- and with a trip to Isabel's hometown of Edinburgh, Scotland in my near future (never woulda thunk that when I started this series so many years ago!) it seemed no better time to pick up this next book in the series.
Alas, not much new to report and that's just the way I think fans of this series like it. Isabel always borders on being annoying and at times in this installment she wobbles to almost a bit too petty for me, but that's just who she is. I can related to her overthinking neuroses.
The "mystery" here again brings a nice set of moral dilemmas that need to be sorted out and they are in the most pleasant and polite way. Tho I am thinking Isabel and Cat just need to take a break from each other, tho I am not sure either one can quit the other.
Pleasant, predictable, and (almost) perfect. I am sure I will soldier on with the series -- and maybe not too far off either when I am in or back from Scotland!
December 23, 2011
I read this Isabel Dalhousie at a bad time (poor Isabel): way too busy with school and holiday stuff, fighting off a stubborn, low key, but obnoxious cold, and intermingled with a few other books that are faster-moving than she ever is. For all those reasons, I didn't find this Isabel outstanding: too little, too slow, too much philosophy, too few points of human interest. My preoccupations aside, the book read as if McCall Smith ripped through writing it so he could get on to something else, and perhaps didn't give it the time, attention, and development it deserved. If he did so, I hope he neglected FAY in favor of a Mme. Ramotswe novel, and not one of the terrible Portugese Irregular Verbs series.
But: I will add that I find all of the Isabel series enchanting as audiobooks, so perhaps if I'd listened as opposed to reading, my review would've been quite different. Since I've asked for an ipod for Christmas so I can partake of audiobooks more easily, perhaps I'll be able to make that judgement quite soon!
But: I will add that I find all of the Isabel series enchanting as audiobooks, so perhaps if I'd listened as opposed to reading, my review would've been quite different. Since I've asked for an ipod for Christmas so I can partake of audiobooks more easily, perhaps I'll be able to make that judgement quite soon!
August 11, 2016
A charming and more satisfying story than the last two previous book in this series, with a nice balance of philosophical thought and human interaction. So, although this feels more 3.5 on my personal scale, I will call it a 4, compared to the last book.
Once again, this is not a mystery but it is another little human puzzle with several little side stories and nice characters. Grace was not very prominent in this book and her situation offhandedly resolved. Cat is still an issue though, but she and Isabel never seem to have a real conversation, just these chats full of misunderstanding. Jamie is perfection and Charlie not prone to terrible twos, but you don't read these books for realistic drama, do you?
Over too quickly but a nice little conclusion. At least one can be comforted by the thought that the author does churn these books out rather quickly, so the wait for the next book shouldn't be excessive.
Once again, this is not a mystery but it is another little human puzzle with several little side stories and nice characters. Grace was not very prominent in this book and her situation offhandedly resolved. Cat is still an issue though, but she and Isabel never seem to have a real conversation, just these chats full of misunderstanding. Jamie is perfection and Charlie not prone to terrible twos, but you don't read these books for realistic drama, do you?
Over too quickly but a nice little conclusion. At least one can be comforted by the thought that the author does churn these books out rather quickly, so the wait for the next book shouldn't be excessive.
December 18, 2011
This book feels darker than previous novels in this series, and perhaps it's because the world has gotten darker--e.g., Grace's decision to invest her life savings in a stock that Isabel made a killing on because of Grace's recommendation via her spiritualist group, then losing it all when the stock tanks mimics events happening in the real world. There is a feeling of foreboding that permeates the novel--it's not as cozy as its predecessors, but it does leave this reader anxious to read the next installment.
January 30, 2012
I always hold a special place in my heart for Isabel Dalhousie. A woman who combines being a mother, lover, write and philosopher with grace and appeal. She constantly questions her own ideas and those of the people around her in the most civil way possible. This particular book focuses on a young woman looking for her long lost parents, another one of Cat's sticky affairs and Lettuce once again making an appearance. Warm, beautiful and moving, I will always love to read another book in this series.
December 31, 2015
Goodness. I don't even know what to say about this book other than I see no point in continuing to read it. Nothing happens. A woman loves her husband, adores her son, has more money than she knows what to do with and rambles through her live randomly bumping into people while apparently not doing any work at all.
Some books are worth the read because the author uses prose so beautiful that you read it just for the pure pleasure of it. This is not one of these books. It's also not one I'll finish reading.
Some books are worth the read because the author uses prose so beautiful that you read it just for the pure pleasure of it. This is not one of these books. It's also not one I'll finish reading.
November 14, 2016
A pleasant read. Not sure what the relevance was though, of the little spiritualist-inspired windfall and Grace's subsequent financial loss. It sort of petered out. I like this series, but Isabel seems to be too comfortable playing God in others' lives and it is becoming disturbing. I think Smith needs to throw a wrench in the works in his next installment, lest Isabel become too self-satisfied to be worth reading. My sympathies are slowly moving more toward Cat.
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